What Went Wrong For Texas Longhorns in SEC Opener vs. Ole Miss

For eight innings Friday night, No. 2 Texas looked poised to make history.

At 16–0, Texas baseball was off to its best start in more than 20 years, dating back to the 2005 national championship season. All it needed was three more outs.

Then came an uncharacteristically disastrous performance from an otherwise dominant bullpen.

After building a 7–3 lead entering the ninth inning, a combination of free passes and a 464-foot, go-ahead grand slam off the bat of Ole Miss cleanup hitter Tristan Bissetta erased Texas’ cushion. Temo Becerra’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth sent the game to extra innings, but the Longhorns ultimately fell short as Ole Miss handed them their first loss of the season.

Once a Strength, Tonight a Weakness

Hortonville High School's starting pitcher Thomas Burns against Middleton High School. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

For 16 games, the identity of this team had long been the depth of its pitching staff.

From excellent starters like Ruger Riojas to hard-throwing strike pitchers like Haiden Leffew and Thomas Burns, the talent seemed endless.

It was — rightfully so — thought to be the clear strength of this team. But tonight, they looked mortal.

“When you look at that game, you just need more strikes,” head coach Jim Schlossnagle said. “That’s really what we wish.”

Starter Ruger Riojas delivered a solid outing, striking out eight while allowing six hits, three runs and one walk before exiting after 4 1/3 innings.

Reliever Haiden Leffew entered with a runner on third and immediately walked the first batter he faced, but recovered quickly, striking out the next five hitters. He finished with 2 2/3 scoreless innings, arguably the best performance of the night.

Ethan Walker and Thomas Burns combined to keep Ole Miss off the scoreboard through the eighth, allowing Texas’ offense to build what appeared to be a comfortable four-run cushion after a three-run home run from freshman Anthony Pack Jr. in the eighth.

But the ninth-inning rally erased that advantage in a matter of minutes.

The inning began quietly enough before the wheels started to come off. Burns and Cal Higgins combined to issue two walks and hit two batters, loading the bases for Bissetta with two outs.

Bissetta then delivered the decisive swing of the night.

The senior outfielder launched a towering grand slam to center field, flipping a four-run deficit into a one-run Ole Miss lead.

Remarkably, it was the Rebels’ only hit of the inning.

Texas responded in the bottom of the ninth when Becerra drove in Aiden Robbins with a two-out single to tie the game. The Longhorns then stranded the potential winning run at second base in both the 10th and 11th innings.

But the bullpen struggles continued into extra innings.

Ole Miss reclaimed the lead in the 11th inning after freshman Brett Crossland hit two batters to start the frame before issuing a bases-loaded walk that brought home the eventual winning run.

It was the worst collapse of the bullpen Texas has seen all season.

Texas used seven pitchers in the game — an alarming number considering the arms needed for the rest of the weekend. And command issues persisted all night, as Texas pitchers walked five batters and hit four more.

Instead of celebrating a historic start, Texas will now have to regroup a rather rattled bullpen before the series continues Saturday at 2:30 p.m.